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Mexican, name-calling
Names might refer to anything, regardless of whether they were connected with alcohol, get-togethers or friends.
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Formal for many other things, mexicans are downright informal when it comes to their language.
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Formal in many ways (eulogizing heroes, respect for the family, pride in the history homeland), Mexicans are downright informal when it comes to their language. Humor and irony bubble over in everyday conversation and are visible in the funny names given to all kinds of retail businesses from grocery shops to restaurants. Can you imagine an auto part shop named "La Colisión" (The Collision) or a butchery called "La Vaca Feliz" (The Happy Cow)
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Cantinas are no exception. There are those with coded names. If one man says to another, "Nos vemos en mi oficina" (Lets meet in my office), both know it doesn't imply a business meeting but the name of a bar on Revillagigedo street in México City. A similar message applies to "El Colegio" (The School), another tavern in the city.
Anecdotes about bar names abound. Thirty years ago in Tampico, in state of Tamauliapas, a bar opened opposite the cemetery. Its name was "Aquí se está mejor que enfrente" (Here it is better than across the street). Months later, someone put a sign on the cemetery gate that said: "We here were once over there."
Sometime during the fifties, a huge cantina called "Los Caballeros de Colón" (Columbus' Knights) opened in México City. The strongly-Catholic neighborhood-which carried the same title-did not take at all kindly to the name. They protested and demanded that, for the sake of decency and morality, the sign should be removed from a place of that nature. The owners finally agreed and one day the cantina's new name appeared on the marquee. It was now called "Las Mulas de Don Cristóbal" (Don Christopher's Mules, alluding to either the animals' stupidity or obstinacy).
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Scattered around the bullring in Downtown Cancún there are several cantinas, each featuring traditional names like "La Guadalupana" [in photo] -honoring México's patron saint-and "La Faena" (the bullfight), or creative names like "La Jalada" (to pull a fast one), "El Albur" (the pun) or "La Changada," which can be loosely translated as "monkey business," but is only one letter away (change the first A for an I) from a swearword in México.
Names might refer to anything; it is all a matter of catching the eye of passers-by and getting them to drop in. Perhaps no name came straighter to the point than "¡Detente, hermano!" Let's face it, who would bypass a bar called Stop, brother! Orders are orders.
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